I agree with the assessment of the risks that you present, but I disagree with this: > but it would result in a decade or more of serious food shortages worldw

I agree with the assessment of the risks that you present, but I disagree with this: > but it would result in a decade or more of serious food shortages worldwide which would probably kill a lot of people. And since it would not just be hitting the poor, undeveloped countries. If the price of food goes up dramatically because of a shortage, this affects poor countries the most. They won't be able to afford food at those prices. If the country is a net exporter of food, which is not that common for poor counties, they could implement export restrictions, effectively subsidising local food prices. But where that doesn't happen, rich countries will effectively be buying food from them while they starve. Most of the food exporters are rich countries. They will export less or not at all due to lower production. Poor counties will get the worst end of it, as usual.